• Meraki (μεράκι): This beautiful word describes doing something with soul, creativity, or love—putting "a piece of yourself" into what you're doing. Whether it's cooking a meal or writing a letter, meraki means going the extra mile to make it special.
• Philoxenia (φιλοξενία): Literally meaning "love of strangers," this term refers to the deeply rooted Greek tradition of hospitality. It’s more than just being polite—philoxenia is about making guests feel like family.
• Eudaimonia (ευδαιμονία): Often translated as "happiness," it’s more accurately defined as a state of being good-spirited or flourishing—essentially, the pursuit of a fulfilling, meaningful life, which was central to ancient Greek philosophy.

3. The Dual Number: When Two is Special

While most languages today use singular and plural forms, ancient Greek also had a dual number. This unique grammatical form was used when referring to exactly two people or things. So, instead of saying “we” (plural) when talking about two people, ancient Greeks would use a specific form for "the two of us."

The dual number was used in verb conjugation, pronouns, and even nouns. For example, the word "ὀφθαλμός" meaning eye was the singular form, "ὀφθαλμοί" the plural, and "τὼ ὀφθαλμὼ" was used to refer to the pair of eyes. The dual number slowly disappeared from the language by the Classical period, but it’s a fascinating reminder of the precision in ancient Greek grammar.

4. Koine Greek: The First Global Language

Koine Greek could be considered the first global language in human history. Emerging after the conquests of Alexander the Great, it spread across a vast territory from Greece to Egypt, Persia, and even India. People from vastly different regions and cultures used it as a lingua franca, facilitating trade, diplomacy, and intellectual exchange.

Koine Greek was also the language of early Christianity, as the New Testament was written in it, and it played a crucial role in the spread of religious ideas. Its wide-reaching influence made Greek one of the earliest languages to bridge disparate cultures, a precursor to languages like English in modern global communication.

5. Compound Words: The Art of Building New Meanings

Greek has a remarkable capacity to create new words through compounding—joining two or more words together to express a complex idea. For example:

• Anthropology (ανθρωπολογία): Comes from anthrōpos (human) and logos (study), meaning "the study of humans."
• Television (τηλεόραση): Combines tele (far) and vision (sight), describing the transmission of visual media over a distance. 

What’s unique about Greek compounding is that it allows for incredible precision in describing abstract concepts, emotions, and scientific phenomena. Greek words were so flexible in this regard that they became the foundation for much of the vocabulary used in modern science and medicine today.

6. Greek's Contribution to Modern Medical & Scientific Terminology

If you've ever wondered why medical terms or scientific classifications sound so complicated, it’s because they’re often built on Greek roots. Greek provides a huge percentage of the vocabulary used in the fields of medicine, biology, and astronomy, among others. Terms like:

• Cardiology (καρδιολογία) from kardia (heart) and logos (study of).
• Photosynthesis (φωτοσύνθεση) from phos (light) and synthesis (putting together). 

My perception over the past several weeks is that Greece, somehow, has turned a corner. At least on a macro level, the economy seems to have eased away from the brink, and all signs are pointing to a slow pattern of recovery. At least this is my perception, and those of many others I’ve spoken with.

However, looking outside and overhearing conversations on the street or in the café, I’m not quite sure…

Here is my problem with perception vs. reality: I don't know which one to believe! So, as with most things, I turn to Google for help. I have a bunch of news feeds set up on my internet homepage – from around the world, but also from Greek news sources. The headlines from this week are oh-so-confusing:

Cost of borrowing via T-bills drops to pre-bailout levels

City Hall's anti-graffiti campaign reaches Monastiraki

IBM to open New center in Athens for big data analytics

Benefits to all single-parent families and new unemployed

But also:

Supermarket chains sense worst is yet to come

GDP falls by €40bn in four years

Golden Dawn MP praises Hitler as a 'great personality'

My own strong perception is that Greece is changing. In small steps, to be sure, but changing nonetheless. This perception is also echoed by my international friends and colleagues who seem to believe that Greece is getting its act together. And many of whom, it seems, have already booked a holiday here this summer. 

Perception is reality. Western self-help psychology tells us that changing our perception can change our reality. And I tend to agree. I feel (want, hope) that Greece is changing, slowly crawling to a better place. And maybe if we all started to believe this, our perception would slowly shift, our mood would slowly change, our interactions would improve, and our overall experience of Greece would improve is subtle ways. Thus, by believing we have turned a corner, we will have changed our reality.  Naïve? Perhaps…  Effective? Most likely…

In the end, I suppose we have to make our own reality, and our individual perception will constantly shift depending on where our day takes us. Maybe the trick is to ‘manage’ our perception like we manage our news feeds.

One thing is for sure: this weekend’s perception (long weekend) and reality (long weekend) are very much in line.  Happy Easter to all  :)

Until next week,

Jack

In this weekly space, keep up with ‘Jack’ as he navigates daily life in Athens… Anecdotes, stories, hits & misses, the good, the bad and, well, the rest…

Lavender and sweet peas spill from planter boxes made from Artemis wine crates. Greek couples and groups are smoking, sipping cloudy ouzo over shared platters; there are families with young children busting curfews.

A hundred metres further down the road, at Soleto, cafe society is at full tilt. Cars are double-parked (a bit of a Hellenic habit) and the trees are lit up like it's Christmas as Athenians venerate the holy trinity of life: caffeine, cigarettes, mobile phone. It's a scene full of kefi, a Greek word that means joyful spirits.

Something has changed of late.Two years ago, every visit to Glyfada (25 minutes from the Acropolis) meant seeing a freshly abandoned shopfront; now, the tumbleweed feeling has gone and there's a tangible pulse of optimism in this cosmopolitan, seaside town, capital of the Athenian Riviera.

Few visitors to Greece realise that less than 10 miles south of the city centre – and still defined as Greater Athens – lies this photogenic stretch of mountains, mineral lakes, seaside resorts and sandy beaches with blue-flag certified clean waters. You won't find the "Athenian Riviera" on any Google map (yet); it's more of an idea. The words are local shorthand for the 35 miles of coastal road that connect the seaside retail hub of Glyfada to Cape Sounion and the ruins of the Temple of Poseidon on the Attica peninsula.

To read this article in full, please visit: theguardian.com
By Amanda Dardanis

Australian newspaper Neos Kosmos reports that taking Goody’s to Australia is the brainchild of Greek-Australian businessman Kostas Tagalakis. The chain’s move to the land Down Under is considered a risk for Vivartia that has so far expanded close to home, going only as far as the Balkans (Albania, Bulgaria, FYROM) and Belarus.

To read more, please visit en.protothema.gr

Vasilopita

On New Year’s Day in Greece, families get together for a big feast and it is on this day that St. Basil or Agios Vasilis delivers his gifts to children. It is the day that the traditional ‘Vasilopita’ is cut - a celebratory cake dedicated to St. Basil that is cut for good fortune.

Playing Cards

As New Years is considered as an enormously auspicious day with lots of good fortunes related to it, so it is the day when many Greeks engage in playing cards. Card playing or rolling the dice happen to be a custom in the country as the Greeks consider it to be lucky and look forward to the new year ahead with good fortune.

Carol Singing

People sing the New Year Carols. The children visit the houses in the neighborhood one after another and sing the "Kalanda" and wish New Year to everyone. It is also the practice to gift the children with money on the New Year Day.

The 'Podariko' Tradition

The first custom to take place with the advent of the New Year in Greece is called ‘podariko’ which is the Greek equivalent to the Northern English and Scottish ‘first foot’ tradition. According to Greek tradition the first person to enter a house on New Year’s Day brings either good luck or bad luck to the household. To this day many hosts keep the tradition alive by specially selecting the person who enters first into their house.

Hanging A Squill Bulb Or Onion

The Greeks hang bulbs of squill or onion on their front door on New Year’s Eve. This tradition is believed to date back to the times of the celebrated 6th century Greek thinker, Pythagoras. These plants can grow fast and survive when uprooted; as such, Greeks have designated bulbs of squill to symbolize growth and regeneration. After the New Year sets in, the the bulb is taken inside and preserved for the rest of the year.

To read the article in full, please visit: 123newyear.com